Reid: Lawmakers may not complete health legislation this year

CongressDaily: "Senate Majority Leader Reid is not expected to receive until next week scoring from CBO that will allow him to piece together a final healthcare overhaul bill, Senate sources said today. The possible two-week review period on proposals that Reid sent CBO Oct. 26 has bolstered speculation that an overhaul bill might not come to the Senate floor before December in a debate that could stretch into next year." It has been the Democrats' hope that they "could give President Obama a victory on health care in the first year of his presidency and avoid a potentially tough vote during an election year" (Edney, 11/3).

The Associated Press reports that Reid is echoing that speculation and "indicating lawmakers may not complete health care legislation this year, missing President Barack Obama's deadline on his signature issue. Asked if the Senate would complete comprehensive legislation in the next two months, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday: 'We're not going to be bound by any timelines'" (11/3).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.